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TELUS Business

Totem uses SD-WAN to impact employees & operations

Tech Trends · Jun 11, 2019

Totem Appliance & Refrigeration Service has provided repair services for more than 45 years in western Canada.  As the organization grew to include 3 locations plus remote employees, it became apparent that a WAN and phone system upgrade was necessary to improve call quality and user experience, which Totem believed would lift employee morale and delight its customers.

“Many of our front-line people are not IT or telecommunications experts,” said Richard Williscroft, president of Totem Appliance. “They are skilled appliance technicians who need to focus on our customers.”

After careful evaluation of available options, Totem selected a services bundle from TELUS called Workplace as a Service comprising Business Connect (VoIP), Managed Business Internet, and Network as a Service (SD-WAN) replacing its previous VoIP and communications service provider.

“Because of the ease of use and reliable quality of the new SD-WAN optimized phone system, call center team members and technicians could focus solely on serving customers,” said Williscroft.

The benefits of TELUS Business Connect, a cloud-based VoIP phone solution, were immediate for Totem. The solution was easier to use, and the call quality was great thanks in part to the cloud optimized and secure SD-WAN (powered by Nuage Networks from Nokia) which could direct traffic through the most optimal connection including wireless LTE backup if required. In addition, the SD-WAN also allowed Totem to drastically reduce its on-site physical server count, which made network management less cumbersome and reduced operating costs.

To learn more about how Totem positively impacted their employees and operations, please read the full IDC Customer Spotlight.

Authored by:
Rajesh Ghai
Rajesh Ghai